The days, weeks and months that have passed since then have been a struggle but I have moved on and still have my wonderful memories of Manit. Never one to wear jewelry or such things I got a red band to wear on my wrist. Actually, they gave us this red thread at the temple to wear and I knew it would not last long so I got the red bracelet to wear for the next year in remembrance of Manit. It is starting to wear but I think it will make it two weeks until the anniversary comes.
I guess I should be grateful to have had Manit in my life, even for a short time. As I mentioned, he was a friend of Sima's from when they were children. Sima worked for me at my house when I worked at Shinta Mani and then came to work at the bar. Manit would come around on occasion and I never really talked with him too much. When, in April of 2005, we need a new bartender, Sima recommended Manit. I interviewed him and he started work right away. Within a few hours of working with him I was thinking, "Why didn't I hire him before?" He was such a delight to work with, great with the customers, staff and a hard worker. When we opened the hotel, he began helping out there until he finally was working there full time. The hotel guests loved him and he got things done, things that other staff members could not figure out. But, he could also get lazy when we did not have hotel guests and when I was not around. I had to talk to him about it finally, just to straighten him out as I knew he could do the job.
I helped Manit to get his passport and we went to Bangkok together to buy things for the hotel. He was a great travel companion, always wanting to see and try new things. Of course he was a bit intimidated by the big city of Bangkok but he would do his best and could usually figure things out. We went to Bangkok a second time and this time we flew from Siem Reap to Bangkok and came back by land. His reaction to flying was a bit subdued but I knew he enjoyed it because of what he told his friends. One thing I did ask of Manit's Mother if she would let me keep his passport as a remembrance of him, of the time we spent together travelling. I was very grateful that she said yes.
My Mother was especially fond of Manit because when she stayed he really spoiled her. She does not do well with stairs so she would just call him when she wanted to come down or go up. He would make her bloody mary's or vodka tonics whenever she wanted one. He would walk her down the Passage to get her manicure or massage. She brought a camera but he knew she could not walk around the area too much so he went out and took pictures for her and brought the camera back to show her what he captured. Same with my friends John and Art. They got to know Manit and see how special he was. They were all very saddened when he passed away.
Another funny Manit story took place in May 2005. My friend's John and Art came to visit Siem Reap. I was going to back to Bangkok with them so on their last day in Siem Reap we took all of the staff to a local hotel to swim in the pool, which is something they rarely if ever have the opportunity to do. It costs $3 per person for a day at the pool, more than the average daily salary in Cambodia and I am happy to treat them to a day like that. So, we arrived at the pool and the staff were splashing around and having a good time. Less than 45 minutes after arriving Sima, Manit and another staff are packing up and leaving. I thought that was strange and not to cool that I pay for them to enjoy the day and they just take off. The next day when I was ready to go to the airport Manit did not show up. Sima said he was not feeling well. I later found out that since Manit had never swam in a pool before, he did not know that the water was chlorinated and not for drinking. He drank so much in such a short time that he got sick and that is why they left early. So, I forgave him but teased him about it later. Here is a picture from that day with Teb on the left, Manit in the middle and Sima on the right:
Manit had a sister living in the USA he told me at the bar one night. "Where?", I asked. I don't know was his reply. I asked him if maybe he could find out from his Mother where his sister lived. A couple of days later I asked him again and he still did not know. So I pressed him harder to find out. The next day he came to me and said, "My sister lives America. My sister lives Colorado. My sister lives Denver." Well, at least I got the answer and it was his sister, brother-in-law and nephew. I helped him to get an email account and Yahoo messenger and Skype and he was able to chat with them online. When Manit died I got their email address and wrote and told them the same things that I had told their Mom, about how special he was and how much he meant to me. I did not hear back from them for a long time but finally received a nice email from them. When I went home that December I brought a package from Manit's Mother that I mailed to them.
So many reminders remain about Manit. He was the one who contacted the person who built the building next to The One Hotel (the old building was torn down and a shell put up). The builder came and showed us the place. Later, when I decided to lease the building he arranged the meeting with the building owner. I thought we would just meet and talk about the possibility but within a couple of hours I had signed the lease and put down the deposit and we were on our way to making Hotel Be. So, Manit's touch remains throughout my life here in Cambodia. This is one of the pictures of Manit I keep on my computer desktop, so he is always there:
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